The Cute Canadian Boy - RE-WRITTEN

Chapter 1

My name is Jerome, and I live in one of those towns where everybody knows everybody. Your parents grew up here, you grew up with the children of your parents' friends, and your children will probably grow up with your friends' children; if you stick around long enough. Basically, you were stuck with the same people your entire life. 

That was until Mitch moved into town. He was the first fresh face that came to permanently live here, unlike the people who attended my local college that commuted, or were only around for the school year. I only knew that Mitch was my age, he had moved here from Canada, and he wasn't planning on going to college, like I was. The first time I actually spoke to him was at a neighborhood welcoming party, because as I said, we're that kind of town. He was funny and smart, and had a lot of love for his family. And also a love of video games, which we got to talking about as soon as I found out about it. We especially bonded over Minecraft, a PC and XBox game that's, according to minecraft.net, "set in infinitely-generated worlds of wide open terrain - icy mountains, swampy bayous, vast pastures and much more - filled with secrets, wonders and peril!" And while it is all of those things, what people like Mitch and I get out of it is a little different.

Mitch and I are Youtubers, we record ourselves playing games for entertainment purposes, and at our level, we get paid for it. On my channel and in Minecraft, I'm known as JeromeASF. Mitch is known as BajanCanadian; Canada, eh?  One of our first games that we played together was something called Hunger Games, which is basically a survivalist-esque game mode where you have to kill your opponents and try to be the last one standing. Mitch was witty and charming even more so while he was on camera; I found myself laughing to the point of crying while I played with him. It was time for the final death match, and Mitch and I were the only two players left. "Hey Jerome, I have an idea." Mitch said. "What's up dude?" I asked. "No weapons, no armor, let's see who can punch the other to death first." I was intrigued by the idea, and agreed. "You're on!" I exclaimed, removing the armor from my character and clearing my 1st inventory spot so I wouldn't be holding anything.

"On the count of three! One...two...three!"

We both made our characters run forward, aggressively clicking our mouses so we could land hits on the other. Before I knew it, the game was over. We both read the bolded words on the screen:

[Server] BajanCanadian killed by JeromeASF

I cheered and laughed. I thought for sure Mitch would win, I didn't have a lot of health and it seemed he was getting more hits on me than I was on him. "Congrats dude, you won the Hunger Games!" Mitch exclaimed, giving a thumbs up from his end of our Skype call. "Thanks!" I replied, feeling more accomplished than I usually do when I win a game like this.